Owl be seeing you, too

Many thanks to San Francisco Chronicle columnist Jon Carroll, for his piece about High Country News titled Owl be seeing you. Carroll praises Kim Todd's story on the spotted and barred owls -- Hostile Takeover, published in our August 4 issue -- and waxes eloquent as he recaps the main points of Todd's feature. He gives us a big plug, as well, calling HCN his "new favorite magazine," and noting that our editorial stances are "not predictable," and our articles are "long and thoughtful."

But the most important thing Carroll points out is that "what happens in Klamath Falls or Bend or Boise or Boulder" affects California, "even coastal urban California." That's been one of the primary messages of High Country News for lo these nearly 40 years: We're all connected. We're tied together by the public lands that cover wide swaths of our states, our need for shared water resources, our wildlife and habitat, the various treasures that lie beneath our ground, and the ineffable cultural ties that arise through a shared history: from the Native tribes that have inhabited the region for centuries, the diverse group of pioneers and adventurers who pushed West, and the immigrants who put their stamp on our cities, towns, farms and ranches.